Nothing Stays The Same
by BlackTales
Summary: 3 years after the Flock kick Max out, their paths cross. Nothing ever stays the same, everyone and everything is different. The world is saved, Max lives with Rain and Talia, the flock has a few added members and have yet to settle down. Then they meet again. ON HAITUS.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, thanks for reading. For those of you who don't know, this is a remake of a story I already did. This is one is going to be better and longer. The story is going to closely follow the same story line and if you don't know what that was, here it is:**

**Old Summary:**

**The Flock kicks Max out! 2 years later they find her in a bar. She's different. She attends school! Not the school, but school. When the people she hates most come around things start to change. She and her best friends Ryan and Tyler (both girls) must learn to accept them for who they are now. And not what they were. Somethings are harder done than said.**

**I mean if your family kicked you out, told you to get lost, what would you do?**

**New Summary:**

**Three years after the Flock kick Max out, their paths cross. Nothing ever stays the same, everyone and everything is different. The world is saved and Max lives with Rain and Talia. The flock has a few added members and have yet to settle down. And then they meet again.**

**Ryan is Rain. Tyler is Talia. So yeah.**

MPOV

_Here's the thing. When everything you love is gone, you think your world is over. Yet the world keeps spinning, the sun still rises, and eventually you have to let go._

_In fact, a close friend of mine said 'I can forgive, but I will never forget.'_

_And I will never forget._

_I won't forget that I was locked in a cage for the first ten years of my existence, yet I can forgive because without the School I would have never met my first family. I won't forget that I was shot for saving a chick I didn't know, but I can forgive because it turns out she's my half sister._

_Ari won't forget that I accidently killed him in the sewers all those years ago, but he forgave me and it turns out he's my brother._

_And I, though I will never forget because it was the worst thing that ever happened to me: worse than getting shot, killing my brother, and growing up in a cage combined, I can finally forgive them for what they did to me._

_Because without that heartbreak: Rain would have never stumbled onto me, and I wouldn't have saved the world. I never would have met Tyler; I wouldn't have reconnected with those I always tried to hate._

_You're confused. Aren't you?_

_Allow me to explain._

_My name is Maximum Ride. The winged girl who saved the world. Who raised 6 kids with wings, and who led the famous Flock. This is my story. I'm happy to report, that finally I can just tell my story and not have to look over my shoulder any more. This is my time to be free._

_Have no fear. This isn't one of those Max dyes her hair black, who cuts herself, who gets pregnant stories, who gets a new family but runs back into Fang's arms two seconds after she sees him. Nope, instead this is the actual story. What really happened when I was a teen._

_You all know it started in cages at the School, and if you wanna get real technical then it goes back to when Valencia Martinez and Jeb Batchelder met. You know about Ari and Ella, Max 2, and Mr. Chu. But I'm sitting here writing about who you don't know. Like Rain and Tammy, or the others that you'll meet._

_As soon as you change chapters._

_MRide_

_It begins in the cave, that damn dreaded cave that I will forever avoid, the one somewhere in Nevada. The one where the flock kicked me out._

"What do you mean?" I screeched. My face was red with anger, my fists were clenched, and my arms were crossed.

"I _mean_ you're leading the School right too us!" Fang yelled back. A few hundred feet away, there was a cave where the rest of the flock was and with Fang and my screaming and their advanced hearing I'm sure they heard us.

"We trusted you!" Fang continued. "You're a freaking traitor whose selling information to our _enemy!_ How could you do that Max? You're family!"

"I haven't done anything!"

"You fly off every night, where the hell do you go? Cause you're gone for hours, next thing we know the flyboys are on us and the only damn explanation is that you're working with them!"

"Working with them my ass! How could you think that?" Fang paused, breathing heavily.

"We've decided that we want you gone. We don't want a traitor in our flock. We thought we could trust you being our leader, but we were wrong."

"…What?"

"Goodbye Max. Don't come back."

_So I left. It was hard, and heartbreaking. I was alone with nothing but my backpack, my max card, and a voice who sounds like a fortune cookie._

_I traveled the world, heading towards Germany where I knew a main Itex branch was. For a while I scope the building out, bringing up old memories, and planned how I would destroy it._

_I had been there about a week. Still sore from flying from that cave to Germany with only two food breaks and one break to sleep. I was in a café, sipping coffee or whatever, when the bell above the door rang and a very important person to this story walked in. _

**A/N**

**So the first chapter is up! Hope everyone enjoys it. Please review and I'll update as soon as the chapter is done.**

**THANKS.**


	2. Chapter 2

Previously on Nothing Stays the Same:

_I had been there about a week. Still sore from flying from that cave to Germany with only two food breaks and one break to sleep. I was in a café, sipping coffee or whatever, when the bell above the door rang and a very important person to this story walked in._

And now:

_I didn't pay the person too much attention. I was busy working on blending in. I had bought new clothes, taken a shower, and even bought a camera and a map to make it look like I was a tourist._

_And if I say so myself I was doing a pretty good job at it too._

_I was watching the steam from my coffee when the chair across from my slid across the floor and someone sat into the chair._

"Is anyone sitting here?" The girl asked. She was pretty with short black hair and blue stripes, with a tight top that cut off below her ribs, black skinny jeans, and a pair of boots. Her eyes were green, her skin was tan, her clothes were tight and revealing but her smile was sincere.

"No, go ahead."

"Thank you." She put her hands in her lap and stared at the menu on the wall behind me. "What do you recommend?"

I shrugged. "Eh, I just pointed to something since I could read anything."

"Interesting tactic." She said. "Though most tourists have a dictionary with them if they don't actually know the language."

I didn't like where this was going. "Left it at my hotel. I had to get up at 6; I am not a morning person."

"I understand. My brother's the same way."

"So are you a dictionary user or a do you speak German?"

"I speak it. I had to learn ever since my study abroad program started. It's actually pretty fun."

"So you're from America?"

She nodded. "Yup, but high school is boring so I asked my parents if I could do study abroad for 6 months and BAM here I am."

"Fun."

"Anyway, my name is Regen. It's German for my real name which is Rain. I probably should have started with that, but whatever."

"I'm—"

"Maximum Ride. I know exactly who you are. And you're the reason I took this trip. I'm here to help."

_Isn't she just so subtle? I probably sat there just staring at her for five minutes. I wasn't sure what to think, what to say, or what to do. I knew the obvious facts: she knew who I was, she knew I was coming, and I'm assuming she knew what I was planning on doing._

_Eventually she got up and bought some chocolate, and then stared at me, eating it, while I figured out what to do._

"Are you—?" I gestured to my back.

"Nope. I'm a hundred percent human. Itex experimented on me in a different way. They started when I was two years old and it was before they started trying to recreate avian American hybrids. You and your Flock were the only successful experiments, if you didn't know that. If it weren't for the original experiments, the ones who weren't injected with animal DNA, then your Flock would only have wings and no powers."

"So we're thankful for you why?"

She rolled her eyes at me, all hints of previous politeness gone. "I wouldn't say thankful. I simple meant that the scientist started the experiment on us to get it perfect for you. Think of it like: the injected us with different solutions. Those who died obviously failed and those who passed had samples taken. Those samples were injected into other experiments or they froze them to save it."

"What kind of solutions?"

"Like telekinesis, teleportation, weather control, precognition, invisibility, flight, healing, etc."

"So we were injected with powers…all of us?"

"Eh, how would I know? I was two when you guys were born. But I would assume so. Most powers stay dormant until they're needed."

"Okay. You said you had a family, do they know?"

"No." She said. "I was at Itex until I was 8, and then they decided to see how I would do in a normal environment. They threw me into an adoption center, but I ran. Eventually I ended up in another orphanage, but I knew that Itex couldn't keep tabs on me in this one. I was adopted sometime later, but I never told them. To keep them safe and all."

"Uhhuh."

Rain leaned forward. "Max. I really am on your side."

_Rain and I were very different. In everything we did. The music she liked, I hated. The clothes she wore reminded me of a towel I would wrap around myself after a hot shower, and I would still be more covered up. Any plan I made, she had to tweak it. Everything I said went in through one ear and never made to her brain. She was just as independent as me, a little bit more rebellious, but somehow we complimented each other perfectly._

_So now I'm going to skip forward. To a week later, at my hotel room, where Rain and I were looking over the Itex layout like there was no tomorrow._

"If that room service doesn't hustle, imma beat their ass." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Charming. When it comes to food, you're worse than me."

She shrugged and buried her head in the map. "Why couldn't we just go out to eat?"

"Because your class is sightseeing today, and you're hard to miss."

"They'd get over it."

There was a knock on the door and Rain bolted before I had time to sit up. She grabbed the cart and pushed the server away, slamming the door in her face. She looked at the food greedily and pulled it back to my bed.

"Foooood. Yummy food. Sweet glorious food." She moaned as she took a bite. I laughed at her before I dug into my own food. It was pretty amazing. And definitely moan worthy.

"So," I said in between bites. "I never got to ask. What can you do?"

She swallowed. "I control the weather and I give people gifts."

"You what?"

"Think of it like a miracle worker. If someone's shot in the heart, I give them their life back sort of thing. I can't bring people back from the dead or anything, but I can pretty much do the impossible."

"Creepy."

"Careful what you say to me Maxie. What about you?"

"I just fly really fast, and I can run faster than everyone else."

She looked at me. "Boring."

_It was boring. But I was a little bit thankful I didn't have lots of powers. They seem like such a big deal, making you crazy for more power. I didn't want the burden of having to always keep them in control, and always having to worry about them._

_I liked the simpleness of my speed._

A/N

Okay, so chapter two is complete. Hope everyone liked it. I'll update as soon as I can.

Thanks,

BlackTales


	3. Chapter 3

Previously on Nothing Stays the Same:

It was boring. But I was a little bit thankful I didn't have lots of powers. They seem like such a big deal, making you crazy for more power. I didn't want the burden of having to always keep them in control, and always having to worry about them.

I liked the simpleness of my speed.

And now:

_The day finally came when we would put out plan into action. We had, finally, agreed that Rain would have to go in because they haven't seen her in about 10 years as opposed to me who they saw a few months ago._

_I would be flying above the building and break into one of the higher levels. She would work on getting to the basement. Once we were in we wouldn't be able to communicate because they A) probably had outside transmission trackers and B) we didn't have any coms._

"Is your watch set?" Rain asked. I glanced at her.

"For the ninth time now; yes. Our one hour will start as soon as we're in."

"Right."

"Are you nervous?" I watched as she frowned.

"Not exactly nervous, more like apprehensive. This is so much pressure, I don't know how you've done it."

I shrugged. "Skill, practice…my awesomeness."

She cracked a smile. "You ready?"

I nodded and she went stiff. For a second nothing happened, and then fog started to spread across the street making it impossible to see much. When I was positive no one was around, I snapped out my wings and took to the sky.

I circled the building twice, having to double check through the fog, then landed. The second I touched down, my timer started. I climbed over the edge of the building and began walking on the small jut out. The fog was slowly clearing, telling me Rain was inside. I crept beside a window, making sure no was inside before I pried it up.

51 minutes 28 seconds.

The office was big. It clearly belonged to someone high up on the food chain. Which is exactly what I wanted, a big office that was sure to have every file I needed.

Itex wasn't stupid. 75% of their records, the important ones, were paper records. They weren't willing to risk being hacked and having people find out about their illegal activities, so they kept records.

File cabinet, after file cabinet. They looked never ending, overwhelming, and like they could kick my ass. They almost did. It took me about 10 minutes to find layouts of some of their other buildings, including places like the School. Another 5 minutes passed before I found something really interesting.

Rain may have escaped 10 years ago, but they never forgot her.

Her file took up half a drawer, next to it was another large file. I didn't have time to read either I stuffed them in my duffle along with the layout plans. I started leafing through the other cabinets; most files were labeled with a successful experiments identification number. The next cabinet I went through was better than Rain's file.

It was the Erasers and Flyboys files. With detailed explanations, notes, and formulas explaining how to make them. There were pictures, explaining each process. Disgusting couldn't even begin to describe it.

Finally, I found the file I wanted but didn't actually think would be there. Mine. The Flock. Jeb. And in the very back, was my moms. I wanted it all, and managed to squish them in next to the Erasers.

10 minutes 41 seconds.

They had a file on Mr. Chu and Bridget Dwyer. Though they were only filled with basic information because, besides the fact that Mr. Chu kidnapped my mom, they two of them posed a very low threat for Itex.

5 minutes 7 seconds.

I stuffed other random files in my bag, something about powers and abilities, another thing about the workers, a couple of experiments. I had two minutes left and a bag that weighed way more than half my body weight. I dragged the bag to the window as if it was weighed nothing though—

_Sorry to interrupt, but I would like to remind everyone that if they remembered the last time I was in Germany when the Director was trying to sell us to the Chinese that she said we could carry half of our own weight. By this she meant when we're flying. Most, if not all, experiments are stronger and faster than normal people. Which means a bag that weight about 75 pounds, is like a 5 pound weight. Okay, now back to what I was saying._

I managed to prop it against the wall as I waited, my body hanging half in half out of the window. What a sight it would be if anyone saw. For a second I wondered if Rain would be able through. Was she caught? Did she get held up? And then on the road, I saw a truck busting ass down the street. I pulled the duffle through the window then pushed it over the edge.

It fell with me jumping after it; I grabbed the handle as we free fell guiding it enough where it would land perfectly in the bed of the truck. With a hundred feet left, I snapped my wings open and watched as the duffle landed in the truck with a loud _thump._

The truck wasted no time in getting the hell out of there. I trailed it, high in the sky, as a real grin stretched across my face for the first time in a long time.

_The driver of the truck was obviously Rain. Our plan was simple. I got the files, she checked for experiments. Failed experiments I guess, if they were in Germany. Back at the hotel, she said there were only a few. A truck came threw a few days prior to collect the rest. The truck was…yeah._

_The few that were there were undergoing final testing, testing their worthiness. Once Rain got them out, they bolted and to this day we still haven't heard from them._

_Rain was more than shocked when she saw her file. She played it cool, though she read the entire thing multiple times. It had all kinds of information. To what her blood type was compatible with (powers wise), to the family that would have adopted her. They even had notes about what she would be capable to do now._

_I didn't read my file. Or the Flocks. It was just something I couldn't bring myself to do. I had thought I knew everything about them, besides the fact that they thought I was a traitor, and I wasn't interested in being crushed with more information I didn't know about them. For example: their parent's names._

_I couldn't do it, and didn't for many years._

_I think I was because, even though they hurt me, I felt like I was betraying them. Betraying one of the good memories I had with them, when we were set out to find their parents. Now their files sit collecting dust in a hidden place that I won't be telling you about, with the names of people who thought they were dead, didn't want them, or didn't care._

_But Rain memorized her file. I disregarded mine. The third was a girl who was going to change our lives more than they already had. _

_Her name was Talia Ranch, but eventually we would come to call her Teddy._


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Thanks for reading. Sorry I haven't updated, the last two months of school are always slammed. Anyway check out my new short story called Fang's Blog. Please review for this story and Fang's blog.**_

_A few weeks later, when Rain's study abroad program ended, I was off again. Rain was going home to American and I was heading to Russia. Which turned out to be only a wasted month that was completely uneventful and all around purposeless, and sent me straight back to the states. Somewhere I hadn't been in over three months._

_Finding Rain wasn't hard, she told me all about how and where she lived. So I headed to California with high hopes that Rain would point me in the right direction for the second Itex branch._

_Instead she forced me to have dinner with her family._

"Maxamillion! It's about time you got her. How was Russia?"

I eyed her in her short shorts and tight tank top compared to my once-again ragged, ripped, and screwed up jeans and hoody. I had ditched my parka and snow boots as soon as I crossed the ocean.

"Cold."

She nodded and started dragging me down the street. "Well, yeah, it's Russia."

"So do you have any ideas where another Itex branch would be?"

Rain rolled her eyes and kept tugging on my arm. "You're definitely one of those all work and no play kind of person." She commented.

"Rain." I warned. She was dragging me closer and closer to houses lining the streets.

"Party pooper." She sang.

"Where are you dragging me me?"

"Technically if I were dragging you, your feet wouldn't be moving." Then she dropped my arm and grinned at me. "You're staying for dinner."

_And that's how I was forced into a seat next to Rain and across from her brother and dad while her mom brought out the food._

"So Max was it?" Her dad asked. "Where are you from?"

"Arizona." I lied easily. Her dad nodded.

"Did you like it there?"

"Yes sir."

"Now how did you and Rain meet?"

Rain rolled her eyes. "Dad, I've already told you Max was also doing a study abroad program thing. Except hers went to Germany and Russia." Then she turned towards me. "Maxamillion, I apologize for my father. He does this with all of my dates."

I blinked. "Date?"

Rain laughed. "Don't get your panties in a twist Maxamillion. Have you ever heard of a joke?"

_Dinner only got worse from there. Of course her parents were ideal, chill and laid-back. Rain and her brother got along a lot like best friends, and it was exactly how I imagined someone like Rain to live._

_But it ended too soon, with me somehow agreeing to stay the night and then Rain's brother, Chet, teaching me how to play Black-Ops (addicting and violent!), and then Rain and I catching up in a room that screamed Rain. I had learned, over the short time of knowing her that Rain liked to talk. To fill the silence while Chet and I played videogames for hours, she curled up on the couch and ranted about the most random things. And then in her room, she flailed out and stared at her ceiling as she told me about all of the annoying people who went to her school. Every once and a while she would glance at me, making sure I was still listening._

_She finally let me go to sleep in the guest room they set up for me around three am, but by then I had figured out where the second Itex branch was. I was done wasting time, done _with_ the well-worth-it distractions. I was meant to save the world, and that's what I was going to do._

_Rain said I was 'all work and no play' well that's because I am. My blood flows with the will to keep going, to stop Itex. Stopping and taking breaks kills me, annoys the hell out of me so yes I am a 'Party Pooper' but that's what makes me Maximum Ride._

_And that night Maximum Ride flew out of the second story window and headed towards South America._

_Itex is not as clever as they think. They place their main branches in the center of seemingly random continents, and have at least one school in each state/country/province. That's a definite 50 schools in the US alone, the bigger the state the more the schools. For example, California has 3 known schools and Texas has 4. Each school experiments on 100 children ranging from newborn to teen and kidnap children 2-6. 100 children per every school means more than 50,000 parents suffer a loss of a child a year in just the US._

_I think that's the reason I push myself so much and so hard. Not all adults are evil. They are not all whitecoats nor are they all out to experiment on children. Not all parents are great, either, but you have to remember that you, most likely, could be worse off. I am not saying all is forgiven or that those bad parents are off the hook. I'm just saying there's good and there's bad._

_And then there's evil/_

_And then I stood in front of the second largest branch of evil with all reason and good thinking out the window. Instead I had revenge and a broken heart on my side. But that's later._

The first thing I saw when I got off the plane, yes an actual plane with a pilot and passengers, was a smiling flight attendant passing by as I as I exited. The second thing tackled me in a hug. I struggled against the hold, trying to wiggle my way out of it. All I could see was curly blonde hair attached to pale skin and a short body. Once I was released I got a glance of blue/grey eyes and a wide smile. She stuck her hand out for me to shake it.

"Max right?" She asked, tilting her head to the side, "It would be really embarrassing if you weren't Max but in my defense my visions are never crystal clear. Especially when you're in them. Anyway I'm Talia Ranch!"

_Talia is the peacemaker between Rain and I. While Rain and I constantly bicker, Talia and I maintain a casual yet tight friendship. She was just like that, easy-going, polite, and always smiling._

_Talia's powers, gifts as she calls them, reflect Talia herself. She's calm, matching her ability to read and control emotions. She's also wise which comes from being able to see the future. Talia also comments on how the future is always changing, so even when the visions down in one of her notebooks she's well aware of the fact that it may never actually come true._

_Her appearance in Bolivia was just as random and unpredictable as many of Talia's visions. And though I was more than prepared to finish this myself, it was nice to have someone._

"You know Rain just about threw a hissy fit when she realized you were gone?"

I shrugged shirting slightly to sit up on my elbows. "She's a big girl. She'll get over it." I put the binoculars back to my face when I realized something. "Do you know Rain?"

"I don't know her personally, but I've been having visions of her since I was like ten so if feels like I know her on a personal level."

"Have you even seen one about me?"

Talia caught my eye. "Only one."

I waited, but she didn't continue. "…and?"

"Eleven months ago, you were in Germany and needed help. I knew I wasn't going to be any help so I sent Rain an untraceable email and hoped she'd follow it."

_It pulled everything together, why Rain was so vague when she said her friend told her to Germany. To help me._

"Why would you do that? Help me, I mean."

Talia tilted her head to the side. "Aren't you meant to save the world?"

_Yes, I was. I am._

**Thanks for being so patient with me! Please review, tell me what you think and what you want to see/ read later on.**

**RnR**

**BlackTales**


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